A southern portion of Broad Street was rezoned Tuesday to make way for the New Bern Gateway Renaissance and put the old Days Inn out of the hotel business.

New Bern aldermen agreed to rezone 15 properties on the south side of Broad Street between Princess and Hancock streets from C-3, commercial district and C-5A, office and institutional district, to C-4, neighborhood business district and C-5A.

During the public hearing, before aldermen voted on the rezoning, only one person spoke about it. Kathy Adolph of New Bern said she supported the rezoning.

Adolph said she has lived in C-3 and C-4 zoning districts and believes there was no difference between them.

“I think a C-4 district will move us forward and provide a very friendly corridor,” she said.

One area rezoned C-4 is the old Days Inn Hotel at the corner of Broad and Queen streets. The new zoning does not allow hotels.

Jeff Ruggieri, director of development services, said he had been in the abandoned hotel and saw where the roof had been leaking for years, causing water to run all the way to the third floor.

About the only viable option for the building is to tear it down, which would cost the owners about $750,000 to $1 million. But it would cost more than $1 million to rehabilitate it, he said.

The New Bern Gateway Renaissance Plan addressed the Day’s Inn Hotel, saying it had very limited uses, Ruggieri said, and none of those uses would enhance the quality of life in the community.

Ruggieri said the city has had conversations with the owners of the hotel, but he did not know what they would do with the property. The owners were informed about the public hearing but did not attend.

The New Bern Gateway Renaissance Plan does not include any hotels along the newly rezoned corridor.

The New Bern Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended the rezoning at its Jan. 2 meeting, according to city staff reports.

Ruggieri said the 15 properties that were rezoned were not examples of spot zoning. On the north side of Broad Street, opposite the southern rezoned corridor, all the property is zoned C-3, just as the rezoned properties were originally. But property in the rezoned corridor, including the historic district on the south side of Pollock Street, is zoned C-5A, he said.